SKA - Jokerit. Match day

SKA will continue their home stretch with a fixture against Finnish rivals HC Jokerit Helsinki.

To the surprise of many, Jokerit have really struggled during this campaign. After losing leading players such as Atte Ohtamaa, Brandon Kozun, Juhamatti Aaltonen and Philip Larsen, the Finns have not been able to find sutiable replacements. As a result, Jokerit find themselves languishing in ninth place of the Western Conference with only 23 points, a showing which has not impressed their supporters. Head coach Jukka Jalonen, familiar to Saint Petersburg fans, has been thrown into the deep end, and his side are coming off the back of four losses in their past five matches, including two consecutive home defeats to Vityaz and Dynamo Moscow.

Newly signed goalkeeper Ryan Zapolski hasn't been as reliable as ex Jokerit figure Henrik Karlsson, only having a 90.3 saves percentage. Sakari Salminen, who has 13 points (2+11), is their current top scorer.

On the other hand, SKA are full of confidence after a superb 2:0 triumph against CSKA on Thursday. Igor Shestyorkin tallied up his fourth shutout of the year in that match, and Ilya Kovalchuk became the club's all time leading scorer in the KHL. The team sits in second of the conference with one game in hand over leaders CSKA.

These two teams met at the Nikolai Puchkov memorial tournament, as Jokerit took a 6:3 victory.

The SKA - Jokerit match will begin at 17.00 local time. Life78 and KHL TV will broadcast live, and you can follow events on our official Twitter account.